Terms of service

1. Who we are

Needoh Alert is the online service at NeedohAlert.com, operated by AJ Wylie, a sole trader in the United Kingdom. When these terms say “we”, “us” or “our”, they mean AJ Wylie trading as Needoh Alert. “You” means the person who creates an account, starts a 72-hour / 3-day trial, pays for a plan, or otherwise uses the service, including Hub, Community and Site Checker.

We are not Schylling, NeeDoh, Bigjigs Toys, or any of the shops whose public pages we watch or check. NeeDoh and related names, logos and product images belong to their owners. We use them only so you can recognise a listing.

The Electronic Commerce (EC Directive) Regulations 2002 require us to identify the service provider: AJ Wylie, trading as Needoh Alert, NeedohAlert.com. Contact us through Support in the app once you have an account.

By creating an account you must tick the box that you have read and agree to these terms and to the Privacy policy. Starting a 72-hour / 3-day trial, paying for a plan, using the stock checker, using Community, or using Check a shop is also agreement. If you do not agree, do not use the service.

2. What the service is

Needoh Alert is a digital information service for people who want to know when selected shops in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada appear to have NeeDoh in stock, and who want extra tools in Hub. It is not a toy shop.

The live checker watches selected retailer websites that sell, or say they sell, NeeDoh products. We read publicly available product pages. When a watched listing appears to change between in stock and sold out, we try to show that in the app and, if you have allowed it, send a notification to your phone.

Checks are aimed at about once every 20 seconds. That is a target, not a guarantee. A shop can be slow, blocked, offline, password-gated, or only available as a manual check. A manual shop is one we cannot read automatically. You open that shop’s own site yourself.

You can hide items and shops, ask for a shop to be considered, keep a basket of links, and use Support. Those choices affect what we show and alert you about. They do not change the shop’s own stock, prices or ability to sell.

The shop list can grow. New shops are reviewed from public pages about once an hour. A shop is not added, and is not watched for alerts, until it has been checked. Asking for a shop, or a review finding a possible shop, is not a promise that it will be added.

Hub currently includes Community and Site Checker. Other Hub tools may be added later. A tool that is not in the app yet is not part of the service.

Support in the app answers common questions straight away. That first reply can be automatic. It does not change your plan, take a payment, issue a refund, or delete an account. If you ask for a person, if a message needs a person (including billing, a refund, privacy, or closing an account), or if you sound like you need one, the conversation is passed to the team. A person’s reply shows in Support, under Inbox, on your profile. Check back there. That is not a live phone line, and a person may not reply instantly.

The service is digital content supplied online. It is not a toy shop, marketplace, escrow, courier, authenticator, or payment service for NeeDoh products.

3. We are not the shop

We do not sell NeeDohs. We do not take payment for them. We do not hold stock, pack orders, or handle returns of toys. We are not a party to any contract you make with a retailer.

The basket in Needoh Alert only prepares a link to a shop’s own page or basket. When you press checkout, you leave us and deal with that shop. Their price, delivery, stock, identity, terms, cancellation and refund rules apply. A link can fail, open the wrong page, omit an option, or arrive after the item has sold out. You must check the shop’s page, including authenticity and delivery, before you pay them.

Nothing in the app reserves an item for you. A notification or an “in stock” label means the listing looked in stock or sold out at the last successful check of a public page. Other buyers, the shop’s own systems, and delays on the network can all mean the item is gone by the time you open the shop.

A complaint about a toy, a missing parcel, a charge on a shop receipt, or a refund of the toy is for the shop that took your money, not for us.

4. Genuine products

We take care over which shops we list, and we prefer sellers of genuine NeeDohs. That is not a guarantee. We cannot promise that every product on every shop is genuine, new, unopened, official, or as described. Some sites sell inspired, unofficial, replica or third-party products. Pictures, names, descriptions and prices come from the shop, not from us.

You buy from the shop, not from Needoh Alert. You must check the shop’s page, seller, packaging and toy before you pay. If you receive a fake, unofficial, damaged, delayed, or not-as-described item, that is a matter between you and the shop that took your money. We are not the seller, we are not a party to that purchase, and we are not responsible for refunding the toy, the shop, delivery, or your Needoh Alert subscription for that reason.

Guides in the app about spotting a real NeeDoh are general information only. They do not make us the shop, an authenticator, or a guarantor of any listing.

Words in the app such as recognised, official, distributor, brand, listed, rating, score, or a high number are labels from our records and automated checks. They are not a certificate that a website, seller or product is genuine. They are not a legal finding that a website is a scam or that a product is fake.

6. Community

Community sits in Hub. It is for members with an active 72-hour / 3-day trial or paid plan. It includes a board, live chat, and direct messages. Your username is visible to other members on posts, chat and messages you send.

Be respectful. Do not post racism, hate, threats, sexual content involving anyone under 18, other people’s private details, or material you do not have the right to share. We can remove content, warn you, mute you, or pause Community on the account. Staff and Forum Moderators can act on reports. Pausing Community does not by itself end your stock checker.

You keep whatever rights you have in content you post. You give us a licence to host, display and moderate that content on the service so other members can see it. We do not have to keep a post forever. Direct messages are for the people in that conversation, and for staff if we need them to deal with a report or a safety issue.

Community is not Support. Account, billing and privacy requests still go through Support on your profile.

7. Who can join

You must be 18 or older, or have a parent or guardian who accepts these terms for you. The service is for people in the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada. A UK account uses pounds. A US account uses dollars and can only be created from a connection in the United States. A Canada account uses Canadian dollars and can only be created from a connection in Canada. Any account can switch the checker to shops that deliver to another region. The price stays on the country of the account. We do not have to accept every application.

A UK, US or Canada account needs a username, a password, an email address, and (unless we are sending the sign-up code by email) a real mobile number that can receive a text. UK numbers are confirmed by text. US and Canada numbers are confirmed by text when that route is available, otherwise by email. One number can use the 72-hour / 3-day trial once. You must not open another account, use someone else’s number, or recycle numbers to get another 72-hour / 3-day trial. If an older account has no email yet, add one in Account so a forgotten password can be reset.

The password must be at least 7 characters and include a capital letter, a number and a special character. You are responsible for keeping it private and for everything done through your account. If you forget it, use Forgot password on the sign-in page. Reset emails come from [email protected]. Tell us through Support if you think someone else is using the account.

You must provide accurate details. A username is for signing in. It is also shown to other members if you use Community. We can refuse, suspend or close an account that appears abusive, automated, or opened to evade these terms. We may cap the number of new accounts so the service stays usable. The current caps are 350 UK accounts, and 250 accounts shared by the US and Canada. Staff accounts are not counted.

8. 72-hour / 3-day trial, paid plans and what happens when they end

A new eligible UK, US or Canada mobile number (or, where we confirm by email instead, a new eligible email) can start one 72-hour / 3-day trial. The trial does not ask for a card and it does not renew or charge you by itself. When the trial ends, paid access stops unless you have chosen a paid plan. Your account is not deleted when a trial or a paid period ends. You can still sign in. If an account is created and never signed in, that account is removed after 7 days. An account without a subscription that stays inactive for 21 days is removed. A paid account is not removed for being quiet.

A member can share a referral code from the checker or from Profile. The code starts as 8 characters. A member may replace it once with their own code of 3 to 8 letters or numbers. Both people receive 7 extra days, and those days start 7 days after the new member’s first successful payment. Typing the code, or starting a trial, does not add the days by itself. Staff accounts do not earn referral days. A refund of that first payment removes referral days that have not been used.

If Phone alerts are on, we send a reminder when a trial, or a paid period that is not set to renew, has about 24 hours, 6 hours, and 1 hour left, and one more when it has ended. A monthly plan that is still set to renew does not get those reminders.

The checker can show UK shops, US shops or Canada shops. Switching country asks first. If you continue, phone alerts follow that country. The price stays on the country of the account.

Paid plans, including VAT if any is due, are currently:

• £1.99 a month. This renews each month through Stripe until you cancel, or until a payment fails.
• £5.99 for 4 months (3 months + 1 month on us). This is paid once, up front. It does not renew. Access ends when the 4 months end unless you buy again.
• United States: $2.99 a month, or $7.99 for 4 months (3 months + 1 month on us), paid in dollars. A UK account is not charged in dollars. US tax can be added on top.
• Canada: C$3.99 a month, or C$10.99 for 4 months (3 months + 1 month on us), paid in Canadian dollars. A UK or US account is not charged in Canadian dollars. Canadian tax can be added on top.

We may change future prices or introduce other plans. A change does not alter a period you have already paid for. We will not raise the price of a current monthly plan without telling you first. You can cancel before the new price applies.

When a 72-hour / 3-day trial or paid period ends, and there is no remaining paid time:

• you can still open the public homepage;
• you can still sign in with the same username and password;
• the live stock checker, Hub (including Community and Site Checker), in-app basket tools and alerts are paused;
• we will take you to a renew screen that says access has ended and offers the paid plans;
• phone notifications for stock changes will stop until you have an active plan again.

Signing in after expiry does not silently restore the checker. You have to choose a plan. If a monthly payment fails, access can stop until the payment succeeds or you start a new plan.

9. Payment

Card payments are taken by Stripe. We do not see or store your full card number, expiry date or security code. Stripe’s own terms also apply to the payment.

A monthly plan is a recurring payment. You authorise Stripe to charge the saved payment method each month until you cancel. If a payment fails, Stripe may retry. Access can stop until a charge succeeds.

You can cancel monthly renewal in Account. Cancellation stops the next charge. It does not erase the days you have already paid for. You keep access until the end of the paid period, then the plan ends.

The 4 month plan is paid once, up front. It does not renew and there is no monthly cancel button for it, because there is no renewal. Buying it again starts a new 4 month period.

UK prices are shown in pounds. US prices are shown in dollars. Canada prices are shown in Canadian dollars. If tax applies, UK tax is included in the price shown. US and Canada tax can be added on top at checkout.

10. Cooling off and refunds

If you are a UK consumer, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 normally give you 14 days to cancel a distance contract. This service is digital content and starts as soon as a plan or 72-hour / 3-day trial is switched on.

By paying, you ask us to start the service immediately and you acknowledge that, once we have started supplying the digital content, you may lose the 14-day cancellation right for that supply. If you cancel in the first 14 days after payment, and the service has already begun, you may have to pay a fair amount for the days you have used. Nothing in these terms takes away rights you cannot legally give up, including rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

The 72-hour / 3-day trial does not take a card. Ending the trial does not create a charge. A US or Canada consumer also keeps any rights that the law of the place they live says they cannot give up. Those rights sit alongside these terms.

We do not refund a period because a particular NeeDoh did not come into stock, a shop sold out before you checked out, a listing was unofficial, Site Checker showed a result you later disagree with, or a notification did not arrive for a reason in section 12.

If we close the service for good, paid time that you cannot use will be refunded for unused days, except where the law does not require it. If we close an account for a serious breach of these terms, we do not have to refund the current period.

11. Consumer information

The main characteristics of the service are described on the homepage, during sign-up, and in these terms. The total price is shown before you pay Stripe. The service is supplied continuously during an active 72-hour / 3-day trial or paid period. There is no minimum contract beyond the period you have chosen, except that a monthly plan renews until cancelled.

We aim to supply the service with reasonable care and skill. Digital content must match the description, be fit for a particular purpose you made known to us, and be of satisfactory quality, as the Consumer Rights Act 2015 requires. A short interruption, a missed alert, a shop blocking a check, or a Site Checker result you later think was wrong does not by itself mean the whole service is unfit, because the service depends on third-party websites and public records we do not control.

12. Alerts

Phone alerts are a best effort. They depend on all of the following:

• an active 72-hour / 3-day trial or paid plan;
• notification permission on that phone;
• Phone alerts switched on for that phone;
• on an iPhone, opening Needoh Alert from the Home Screen icon (Apple will not send web push from a Safari tab). On Android, a browser that supports web push, such as Chrome, Samsung Internet, Firefox or Edge, can receive alerts from a normal tab;
• Apple, Google, your network, and your phone settings allowing the notification.

Each phone is saved separately. Switching alerts off on one phone does not switch them off on another. If the phone is off, in Focus or Do Not Disturb, out of signal, or the Home Screen icon has been removed, the alert can be late or never shown.

We do not promise that you will be told within 20 seconds, that you will be first, that only you will be told, or that the item will still be there when you open the shop. The sound in the app only plays while the app is open and sound is switched on.

One-time text codes used to confirm a mobile number at sign-up are not stock alerts. Password-reset emails from [email protected] are also not stock alerts. We do not send marketing texts or marketing emails.

13. Acceptable use

You must not:

• share one account so other people can avoid paying or reuse a 72-hour / 3-day trial;
• use a false name, a phone number you do not control, or someone else’s payment card;
• attack, scrape, overload, reverse engineer, or probe Needoh Alert or the shops we check;
• use automated tools against our site, bypass rate limits, or attempt to access another person’s account;
• use Site Checker to harm others, to flood the tool, or to treat the ratings as a professional authenticity opinion you can sell or rely on as a guarantee;
• use the basket or a shop link to place fake orders or hold stock you will not pay for;
• copy the service, the alert feed, our selection of shops, or our wording to build a competing product;
• send unlawful, abusive, threatening or misleading support or Community messages;
• use the service for any unlawful purpose.

We can refuse a shop request. Listing a shop is our choice and can change at any time. We may change or withdraw Site Checker at any time.

14. Third-party websites and records

We read public product pages and, for Site Checker, public records. Those pages and records belong to the shops, registrars and public bodies. Their terms, robots rules and availability can change without notice. If a shop blocks us, changes a layout, or requires a login, we may slow, pause or drop that shop.

Links to shops are provided for convenience. We do not endorse every product on a linked site. Your use of a shop site is between you and that shop.

15. Availability and changes

The service can be interrupted for maintenance, faults, shop blocks, hosting problems, or things outside our control. We can add or remove shops, change how a check works, change Hub, change the app, and change these terms.

If we change these terms in a way that is more than a clarification, we will update the date at the top of this page. Where a change is material, we will also say so in the app or by email if we have a contact address for you. Continued use after the update is acceptance of the new terms, except where the law requires a different process. If you do not agree, stop using the service and cancel any monthly renewal.

16. Our responsibility

We provide Needoh Alert with reasonable care. We do not promise that it will be uninterrupted, error free, or that any particular product will be found, reserved, still for sale, or genuine when you arrive at the shop.

Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability which the law says we cannot exclude. If you are a consumer, you also keep your statutory rights.

We are not liable for:

• a shop’s products, prices, delivery, website, identity or refusal to sell;
• a missed, late or duplicate alert;
• money you spend at a shop;
• a counterfeit, unofficial, damaged or not-as-described toy bought from a shop, including after a Site Checker result, a high rating, or a recognised / official / distributor / brand label;
• a Site Checker result, rating or finding that is wrong, incomplete or out of date;
• loss of profit, wasted time, disappointment, or a lost chance to buy a toy;
• device, browser or network settings that block notifications;
• events outside our reasonable control, including shop outages, Apple or Google push or SMS failures, public-record outages, and hosting or connectivity faults.

Where the law allows us to cap other losses, our total liability to you in any 12 month period is limited to the amount you paid us for Needoh Alert in that period. If you are still in a 72-hour / 3-day trial, or you have not paid us in that period, that cap is zero for losses the law allows us to cap.

17. Ending an account

You can sign out at any time and cancel a monthly renewal in Account. You can ask us through Support to close the account. Closing the account ends access. It does not by itself refund paid time already used. To ask for a copy of the personal data we hold, use Support and choose GDPR request. We send that copy to the email on the account. Details are in the Privacy policy.

We can suspend or close an account if you break these terms, if a payment is charged back, if we cannot verify the mobile number, or if we must do so for security or the law. We can also refuse service where continuing would, in our reasonable view, harm the service or other users.

18. Intellectual property

The Needoh Alert name, app, text, layout and original design are ours or used by us under licence. You get a limited, personal, non-transferable right to use the service while your account is active, for your own non-commercial use. You do not get any other licence.

NeeDoh, shop names, logos, and product images belong to their owners. Showing them so you can recognise a listing does not transfer any right in those brands.

19. Complaints

If something is wrong, use Support in the app. We will look at it and aim to reply within a reasonable time. Naming AJ Wylie as the operator is intentional: Needoh Alert is his service.

20. General

If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies. If we do not enforce a right straight away, we can still enforce it later. You may not transfer your account. We may transfer the contract if we hand the service to another operator, provided your consumer rights are not reduced.

A person who is not a party to these terms has no right under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 to enforce them.

These terms, the Privacy policy, the Site Checker tick box, and the details shown at checkout are the whole agreement for the service. They replace earlier versions.

21. Law

These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. If you are a consumer in Scotland or Northern Ireland, you can also rely on the mandatory protections of the place you live. If you are a consumer in the United States or Canada, you also keep any mandatory protections of the place you live. The courts of England and Wales will hear disputes, except that a UK consumer may bring a claim in the courts of the country in the UK where they live, and a consumer outside the UK may use a court the law of their home place allows them to use.

Questions about these terms: Support in the app. The operator is AJ Wylie.